Rain, cold cut winter watermelon volumes

Rainy, cold January weather put a dent in winter watermelon volumes from Mexico.

Crossings from Mexico into the U.S. were down 40% in mid-January and could be down as much as 40% through mid-March, thanks to Mother Nature, said Jimmy Henderson, owner of McAllen, Texas-based Warren Produce LLC.

“The rain last week was a game-changer,” Henderson said Jan. 17.

In some growing regions, Henderson said, it wasn’t so much the intensity of the rain as the duration. In Nayarit, for instance, it was more a mist than rain, but it lasted for a week.

In Jalisco, the rain was heavier, he said.

The amount of rainfall wasn’t as important as the fact that it came in January, Henderson said.

“The timing was real bad,” he said. “There’s shorter daylight, the plants get stressed and they can’t work back into health.”

At other times of the year, plants are able to recover much better than they can during the winter.

On top of the volumes lost from the rains, acreage in Western Mexico was down to begin with, Henderson said.

The quality of the crop, at least up until mid-January, had been excellent, Henderson said.

In January Warren Produce was sourcing from the Nayarit and Jalisco growing regions.

Winter acreage is similar this year for Edinburg, Texas-based Bagley Produce Co., said Jeff Fawcett, sales manager.

Unlike last year, however, growers in Jalisco and Nayarit haven’t had to contend with hurricanes and other tropical storms this season, Fawcett said, though cool weather and rain have taken a toll.

“It didn’t hurt the crop, but it has slowed things down,” he said.

Cold weather could have a delayed effect, too, affecting supplies in late March and April, Fawcett said.

Bagley Produce expects to switch to Campeche before coming back to Tampico and Jalisco in April and May.

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About the Author:

Andy Nelson, markets editor

Andy Nelson joined The Packer as a staff writer in 2001. He became the paper's Handling & Distributing editor in 2005 and markets editor in 2006. Before joining Farm Journal Media, Nelson was a staff writer for The Kansas City Star.